Looking for a little more oomph from the Focus SVT, the product of Ford's Special Vehicle Team formed a few years ago to come up with limited-edition, high-performance versions of existing vehicles?

You'll have to keep looking, but perhaps not for long, according to Andy Slankard, SVT car program manager for Ford.

"Are we under pressure to raise the horsepower? Oh, yeah. Others in that [small car] segment are coming up with more horsepower, and we're going to have to respond," Slankard said when asked when Ford is going to beef up the SVT Focus introduced for the '02 model year.

"It's still a credible, everyday car that delivers 85 percent of its torque at only 2,200 r.p.m. and will do 135 m.p.h., which is a lot of bang for the buck from a normally aspirated car," Slankard argues.

It just needs a little more muscle, he admits.

Rather than normally aspirated, maybe the muscle will come from a turbo like it does with the Neon and PT Cruiser.

"I can't comment whether it will stay normally aspirated, but I can say that small, high-performance cars have become a segment in which the Japanese, Europeans and even Koreans compete and has become an exciting segment for us because there isn't a war anymore with Mustang," he said.

Slankard was referring to the fact that the decades-old battle between the Mustang and Chevrolet Camaro/Pontiac Firebird ended when Camaro/Firebird entered the history books after the 2002 model year.

Leading to the speculation about a more potent version of the SVT Focus is the fact that racing legend/performance-car developer Carroll Shelby has rejoined the Ford team to create limited-edition vehicles with some kick to them.

Shelby, a former racecar driver, teamed up with Ford in the '60s for numerous racing and performance-product programs, from the Shelby Cobra to the Ford GT40 and the GT350 and GT500 Mustangs.

After splitting with Ford when it stopped producing Shelby Mustangs in 1969, Shelby resurfaced to help Ford-president-turned-Chrysler-chairman Lee Iacocca develop the 1992 Dodge Viper and then was a consultant to Ford in developing the super exotic GT, the modern rendition of the GT40 of the '60s.

With the next-generation Mustang coming for '05, Shelby is certain to play a role in bringing out a high-performance Shelby version.

Shelby also has experience with small cars, having helped Dodge create the Omni GLH (Goes Like Hell) in the early '80s.

"Will Carroll work on SVTs? Good question. Anything he does is performance-oriented; we are Ford's performance group. And anything he could do sure would be nice and would be a positive move," Slankard said.

But back to the SVT Focus, added as a two-door derivative to the Focus lineup for '02 and then brought out in four-door version for '03 because it was easier to sell "the wife on a performance car when it had four doors to handle the kids," Slankard said.

We tested an '03 Focus SVT four-door. Plenty of spunk and a smooth 6-speed manual to get all the power out of the 4-cylinder as possible. It's just that it would be even nicer if more power was possible. The 2-liter 4 is rated at 170 h.p. in the '03 and will remain that way for '04.

The major change coming for '04 is a new European Appearance package, which was added to the '03 test car for an early look. It won't officially be offered until later this fall.

Toyota parks self--almost: Toyota has developed a parking-assist system for its gas/electric Prius car that, at the touch of a button, will back the car into a parking space on its own.

The valet Prius will go on sale in Japan this fall. No word on U.S. availability.

The optional system incorporates cameras in back and a display monitor upfront so the driver can see the parking space behind. When ready to back up, the driver touches a button and the hybrid's electric motor powers the car into the space.

The driver, however, must brake to stop the car. And while the cameras will spot objects such as people or shopping carts that move into the space the car is about to back into, the driver must be prepared to brake if anything blocks the car's path.